Saturday 25 January 2014

To write is to travel.

Bodrum castle in January


To write is to travel without leaving your seat. To write well is to populate your head with a never-ending stream of strangers. To write entertainingly is to listen to the strangers and determine which are leading you down fruitful roads and which are diverting you to dead ends.  A name is all that is needed to spark a train of thought that can take a family from birth to death, from Asia to Europe, from the Earth to the Moon. Everyone of us can hear the names but only the writer can take others on the journey. The strangers in your head may laugh, cry, shout or scream but the writer has the power to make the laugh bitter, the cry of surprise, the shout of triumph and the scream of delight.  I'm wondering if I've got the willpower to harness the strangers to take the journey from prologue to epilogue.  Probably not - I'm more suited to short bursts of prose inspired by the streets of my daily walk and inspiration is a bit thin today.  It must be the Lodos, the southerly wind that causes headaches and general lethargy until it builds into a massive storm that batters and floods. A warning has been issued telling us to batten down but walking through Bodrum today the sky behind the clouds is still blue and the air warm enough to abandon jacket for a cardigan.  Next week the North wind will blow cold crisp air across Bodrum which will, hopefully, concentrate the mind and galvanise creativity.

22 comments:

  1. Well if this post is anything to go by, you certainly are ready to take the journey from prologue to epilogue. Go for it...you can do it!

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    1. If I could shake off the procrastination and laziness.

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  2. . . wake me when we get there!

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  3. Still waiting for the storm here....

    May inspiration strike soon!

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    1. We had a magnificent hail storm but not much wind.

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  4. Of course you can do it. Why do you doubt it?

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  5. I love reading about your little walks around town. From the outside, the simplicity and small observations of day to day life are just as exciting at a grand tour of Ephesus. It's how the world turns.

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  6. B to B, You know, to my mind, the process you very well describe in your post is the very creative side of writing - a tough task to set for yourself. Very thought-provoking post - thanks. (Darned Lodos! I blame it for just about everything but now, it's not even doing its job. We haven't had rain for months - just headaches.)

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  7. Well that was a lovely piece of writing anyway! :) I love to ramble randomly in our blog but not sure I could ever sit down to write a book or anything like that. If you're seriously considering it, go for it! :)
    We got the Lodos yesterday and through the night. Writing this from a grey, wet Fethiye.

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    1. I think the Lodos storm blew itself out over Fethiye before it reached us

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  8. to say that i like your stories is inadequate--adore-revel-love are not quite enough .you state that to write is to travel -maybe so -but your readers also travel--as passengers -even though they can only travel third class they share your first class experiences with pleasure but envy.

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  9. Love this post :-) I say, go for it! What have you got to lose?

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  10. Your writing always inspires me and takes me to wonderful places - even this one : ) please keep going, rain, storm or sunshine! :) Ozlem

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  11. Well, B2B, if you weren't made for travel writing, what were you made for? From prologue to epilogue is one wonderful journey. Go! Enjoy! We're with you! Axxx

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  12. I'm with the rest. You have it in you, so go for it and we'll look forward to the arrival. Mind you, I do sympathise about lethargy and lack of inspiration. My mind has been a total blank for days. :-)

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